Do I need a health visitor?

[macneil]

I gave birth in Canada (where I had a health visitor) and came back to England when my daughter was 4.5 months. She's now 8.5 months. I took her to the GP when I got back and she had to finish the course of Hep B jabs she started in Canada (the GP was like, 'Is there a reason for the Hep B?' and I had to say I wasn't a crack whore, it's a standard course of vaccinations in Canada, as is, I think, chicken pox). I'm getting family allowance and she has a British passport, so I think Britain knows she exists. I'm not sure if there's something else I have to do, but hey ho, I'll find that out when it's too late and desperate, no doubt.

But, apart from the final Hep B jab, the GP (my long-standing GP) and practice nurse didn't do anything. It's a lovely practice, so I'm not finding fault with them. But no weighing, no measuring, just jab and out. They told me the next jabs came at 12 months.

But I was reading on mumsnet about an 8 month check, and mine hasn't had one. I don't have a health visitor and no one has contacted me since I got back and registered her with my GP. I've read up on what the 8 month check does, and apart from hip alignment or eye checks, which I wouldn't know how to do, I think (touch wood) she's safely normal. Do health visitors do anything else from now on? Is it worth getting one? I should also say that my dad is a GP and my mum is a practice nurse and they see a lot of her.

[The one reason I can think of is I am quite curious about her weight, length etc, because a) her father is a great big giant tree of a man, and I'd prefer it if I felt she wasn't going to beat 6 feet, and b) because I couldn't breast feed and Canadian formula seemed a lot sugarier than Aptamil I am ridiculously paranoid about causing her to be obese, despite having (obsessively) read comforting reports about the purported obesity/formula links. But she is a very big, heavy baby. This part of it is PURELY me being an effing nutter, and not really urgent in any way.]

[LIZS]

You will have a HV if you are registered with a gp , but whether you see her is another matter. Your surgery will have a baby clinic affiliated to it , may be on a particular day there or at a different location. You can just drop in as and when to do weighing/measuring and could casually ask when they would do a check up . Not all areas do them as formally and regularly as suggestted in the Red Book.

dd was born abroad, came over when she was almost 4 and has never seen or had contact with a HV.

[MaureenMLove]

You could go to a walk in clinic, if you can find one near you. They'll do the weighing and stuff and are there to advise if necessary. They will probably get you 'on the books' iykwim.

[hana]

my youngest is almost 1 and hasn't had any notices for an 8 month check.....nor did my 2 year old.

I don't bother with the health visitor - I did when I had my first, useful for a few things, but I don't now. I'm too busy and the advice I've had is dubious at times. If I suspect something is wrong they see the GP - but having said that, I can't remember the last time that happened, apart from the usual jabs.

Might be useful to see if there is a clinic nearby for the weighing concerns you have.

[macneil]

Ah, okay, thanks very much! Maybe I'll give the GP a call and find out about the baby clinic, and will look up a walk-in one to see if that's easier. The baby clinic - if that has other babies at it - sounds like a fun idea, because I like to gawp at other babies to compare fatness, and because I suddenly really like other babies.

[dazedandconfunded]

Whereabouts are you, MacNeil?

[macneil]

I'm in West London, GP in Notting Hill, me a bit easter.

[macneil]

And I think there's a walk-in on the Edgware Road, although baby clinic sounds cuter.

[Highlander]

Macneil - the HVs here are very different to the nurses in Canada. HVs weigh babies and..............er, that's it. When i came back from Vancouver I was horrified how little training HVs here have. They don't even do the vaccinations FFS. With DS2, I attended the 8 week old weigh-in and GP check and I haven't been back since.

[incognitoHV]

Sorry highlander - have to disagree

I'd love to just weigh babies all day - if only.

[incognitoHV]

..must go back to my normal MN name - shouldn't get caught up in all these HV threads but sometimes just cannot help myself.

[ladymuck]

Do you have a Red Book? I would have expected that t you should have one (it records all vaccinations here and is also used to record length/weight and results of all development checks. I think that its formal name is "Personal Child Health Record".

[Pruners]

Message withdrawn

[hannahmary]

Hi there, this may be slightly off topic and you did mention that your parents were in the health profession so may not apply but I was the other way around. I was born in Wales and started jabs and everything here but when we moved to Canada when I was really young they were on a different schedule and different jabs and I sort of fell through the cracks and didn't get any more. My brother and sister did so it wasn't that my parents didn't take us in, they just didn't push them to get everything sorted so noone bothered. Last year (at 27) I had to have 8 billion jabs. I think sometimes it is a matter of pushing away even if they shrug you off or don't give clear answers.
Some babies are just big?

[EricL]

HV's are a waste of space. Very worthwhile of course for certain 'at-risk' babies of young or dodgy parents - but in my experience you are better off without them. The three we have had have all been the same - making up silly things to justify their existance.

First one said our new baby had a 'gut-disorder' cos it was crying all the time and throwing up lots - funny colour too. Mum was beside herself at this point and worried sick. HV completely failed to see that it was actually being fed horribly wrong by us (no advice on it after being shunted out of hospital) and was sucking in blood from broken nipples and mastitus.

Second one said the baby had 'a squint'. It didn't. We would have noticed. Refused to waste doctors time over such a silly issue. She out foot down and threatened us. Went to docs under protest. He said she didnt have squint and was a waste of time. HV always sent made-up medical conditions in to him.

Third one said our other daughter had 'speech difficulties'. Absolute rubbish. She wasn't talking much with her is all. Refused to waste doctors time AGAIN. Was forced to go to Speech Therapist AGAIN. Told by Speech Therapist that there was nothing wrong and sent home. REALLY? What a feckin surprise. She chats away like a trooper when there are not strange women asking funny questions to her.

Both daughters are in perfect health and happy as Larry and no more HV thank God.

[macneil]

"Some babies are just big?"

Heh! Thanks. I don't have a red book (I gave them her full medical records when I registered, and they took them away, presumably to put them into their computers). I'm going to try to keep up with the vaccinations, though - I think I came here at the right time so we're not very off course in terms of similarity to the UK schedule.

But you're right, I think it is really easy to fall through the cracks, and if I were a scary bad mother, I just wouldn't be seeing people. But I don't suppose there's much the system can do about that.

[sheepgomeep]

'I was horrified how little training HVs here have. They don't even do the vaccinations '

My hv does. she is quite good in that respect

[Sidge]

When you register a child with a GP you usually have to tick the box on the application form to agree for your child to be monitored by Child Health Services. It may have been pre-ticked by the admin staff when you were given the form to sign.

Having said that HVs seem to be stretched thinly these days (well they are round here anyway) and routine checks have been largely discontinued. There tends to be drop-in baby clinics run by a health visitor and nursery nurse/HV assistant where you can get the baby weighed, measured, chat about any concerns etc.

[scattyspice]

We didn't have 8mnth check. HV has a drop in clinic if you want to weigh etc, but its quite easy to do it yourself at home..

You can ask GP practice to speak to HV if any concerns.

[hana]

with regards to who gives the jabs - it really depends on the clinic. At ours, the community nurse gives them - not the GP or HV. But at other practices, it may well be the GP

[macneil]

I have tried to weigh her by weighing myself and then weighing me and her. But this gives anything between 20 pounds and 22 pounds - I think domestic scales are always a bit rubbish - and that makes the difference between 75-90th centile and OFF THE SCALE! which is a bit yeep. She's a very happy and pink little plump sweetheart so I'm not very worried, and as I said, it is just this mad paranoia that I will eventually calm down about and doesn't take up all that much of my day.

I know (or know of) a part-time health visitor who was previously a nurse for over 35 years, so I think like all jobs there are very good ones and very not so good ones. And I think I agree with the people who think I probably don't need one visiting and keeping an eye on us, but it would be nice to see how she's doing.